Electric iron



April 15, 19245 1,490,241 F. THORNTON, JR, ET AL ELECTRIC IRON Filed April 12, 1921 WITNESSES: ENVENTGRS and 6m; U1 Fr Y ATTORNEY 85 an opening Patented Apr. 15, 1924.

UNITED STATES 1,490,241 PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK THORNTON, JR, AND CARL J. FAY, OF MANSFIELD, OHIO, ASSIGNORS TO' WEST- INGHOUSE ELMTRIO PRODUCTS COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

morale more.

Application fled April 12, 1931. Serial 170. 460,768.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that. we, FRANK THORNTON, Jr., a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Mansfield, in the county of Rich- I land and State of Ohio, and CARL J. FAY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Mansfield, in the county of Richland and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Im rovement in Electric Irons, of which the to owing is a specification.

Our invention relates to electrically heated ap aratus and particularly to electrically heated irons and it has forione of its objects to provide a new and improved means for supporting the contact terminals of electric irons in their proper operative positions.

Another ob'ect is to provide a new and improved met od of mounting a contact-ter- 2o minal guard on an electric iron.

In racticing our invention, we provide a plura ity of contact terminals removably connected to the terminals of the heating element and mount them on a terminal-sup- 26 porting bridge which is held in its proper o rdtive position by the means employed to 0 amp the heating element between the top and the bottom late of the iron' \Ve provide algoa guard for the contact no terminals which has one'integral projection adapted to. be clamped between the cover member of the iron and the handle strap secured thereto and another projection of substantially L-shape adapted to extend through in said handle strap. In the single sheet of drawings, Figure 1. is a view, in side elevation, with certain parts in section, of an electric iron comprising the device embodying our invention;

,F i 2 is a view, in rear elevation, of a terminal uard. V v

, Fi 3 1s a top plan view of the terminal guar illustrated in Fig. 2. I Fig. 4 is a view, in rear elevation, of an electric heating element, the associated terminal-supportin bridge and the contact terminal supported thereby.

An electric iron 1 comprises a bottom plate 2, a heating element3, a top plate 4 and a removable cover member 5. The heating element 3 may be of any suitable construction usually employed in electrically heated irons and is adapted to be securely u clamped between the top and the bottom plate by means of a plurality of bolts 6 only one of which is shown in Fig. 1.-

A handle 7 is provided with two independent stra members 8 and 9 to the upper end of whic it is secured by means of a screw or bolt 10 and a nut 11. The lower end of each of the handle-strap members 8 and 9 is secured to the cover member 5 by means of rivets 12, the cover member being depressed a small amount to permit of locating the ends of the respective strap members therein to present a pleasing appearance. The cover member 5 is secured to the body of the iron by means of a single bolt 13, in the usual manner. The ends of the resistor element of the heating means 3 terminate in flat washer members 14 which are secured against contactterminalv supports. 15, to which the contact terminals 16' are secured by riveting;

A terminal-supporting brid e 17 of substantially L-shape is provide one of the parts thereof being in substantially a vertical position and parallel to one portion of the terminal-supports 15, being insulated therefrom by means of a sheet of mica 18. A bolt 19 and a nut 20 serve to hold the terminal 14, the terminal-support 15 and the terminal-supporting bridge 17 in proper operative relation to each other, aninsulating washer 21 being employed under the nut 20 to insulate the terminal 14, terminal support 15 and contact terminal support 16 from the terminal supporting bridge 17. The other portion of the member 17 is located in a 'substantially horizontal position and is firmly secured against the upper surface of the rear end of the top plate 4 by one of the machine screws or bolts 6; The lower end of the vertical part of the member 17 may be bent over, as indicated in Fig. 1, to rovide additional bearing surface on the eating element 3 and the bottom plate 2, thus in suring that the complete contact-terminal assembly. shall be firmly mounted in its proper operative position.

A terminal guard 22 comprises a cage portion 23, a de ending integral portion 24 and an upward y extending ortion 25 of L-shape and narrower than t e portion 24.

The contact terminals 16 extend outwardly through an o ening 26in the rear part of the cover mom or 5, an insulating member 27 of. suitable form and dimensions surrounding the contact terminal 16 at the place her and another portion thereof where they pass through the opening 26. The member 15 is so bent at its u per portion as to cause the contact termina 16 to extend substantially parallel to a portion of the handle-strap member 9.

, The depending ortion 24 of the terminal guard 22 is placed between a portion of the rear end of the cover member 5 and a portion of the strap member 9 in order that it may be securely clamped therebetween when the strap member 9 1s riveted to the cover member 5 by means of the rivet 12. The upper portion 25 of the terminal guard 22 is adapted to project through an opening 28 in the upper portion of the strap member 9, and when the lower portion 24 is clamped as above described, the terminal guard 22 is held securely in its operative position on the assembled iron. A socket member 29 is connected to the usual supplycircuit conductors 30 to permit of energizing the heating element.

In assembling the handle of the cover member, the upper portion 25 of the terminal guard is put in its operative position through the opening 28, with the portion 24 lying against the cooperating portion of the strap 9, after which th strap 9 may be riveted to the cover member, as hereinbefore described.

It may be noted that the construction of the complete terminal assembly permits of removing the members 15 and 16 and the terminalsupporting bridge 17 from the heating elements 3 and thus permits of packing the heating element 3 in a relatively small space for shipment.

It may further be noted that the device embodying our invention provides a rela tively simple and strong means for holding the contact terminals in their proper operative relation to the terminals of the heating element and in proper operative positions in the iron itself. a single means being provided for clamping said heating element between the top and the bottom plates and for bolding the contact terminals in proper operative positions.

The device embodying our invention further provides a terminal guard which is held in its operative position by having one portion thereof engage the handle strap memclamped between said handle strap and the cover member, independent of the means used to secure the handle strap against the cover member.

Various modifications may be made in the device embodying our invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and we desire that only such limitations shall be placed thereon as are imposed by the prior art or are specifically set forth in the appended claims.

We claim as our invention:

1. An electric iron comprising a bottom plate, a top plate, a heating element located therebetween, a cover member, contact terminals for said heating element, a supporting bridge for said contact terminals, a single means for clamping said top plate on said bottom plate and for holding said contact terminals in proper operative positions relatively to said top plate and-said cover member, a handle, a handle strap secured to said cover member and a terminal'guard held in its operative position by having a portion thereof clamped between said handle strap and said cover.

- An electric iron comprising a heating element, a cover member, contact terminals for said heating element, a handle, a handle strap secured to said cover member and having an opening therethrough and a terminal guard for said contact terminals having an extension adapted to be clamped between said handle strap and said cover member and a second extension of substantially L-shapeadapted to project through said opening in said handle strap.

3.- An electric iron comprising a heating element, a cover member, contact terminals for said heating element, a handle, a handle strap, means for securing said handle strap on said cover member, and a terminal guard held in its operative position by having a portion thereof clamped between said handle strap and saidcover member independently of said handle-strap securing means.

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names this 5th day of April, 1921.

FRANK THORNTON, Jn. CARL J. FAY. Witnesses:

J. C. WoonsoN, J. D. HAYNSWORTH. 

